Notre Dame vs. Stanford Review: Defense

It was a bittersweet end to a hard-fought season riddled with injuries and adversity. If any team deserved a happy ending this year, it was Team 127. But alas, the happy ending has eluded us. Before I start my review, I’d just like to take a moment and express how proud I am of this team. Notre Dame has yet again produced another group of outstanding young men, who stood together when the going got tough, who had each other’s back at every step of the journey, who never gave up, and who are not only teammates but will be family in Notre Dame forever. Team 127 has shown the world what it means to be a Notre Dame man. Thank you for that! And now, time to review the defense.

The Notre Dame defense allowed Stanford’s offense 22 first downs (in comparison, Stanford’s defense allowed the Notre Dame offense 24 first downs). The Fighting Irish defense had a solid night in defending the Stanford rushing game, allowing Stanford only 153 yards of net rushing, but they struggled in defending Stanford’s passing game, allowing Stanford 269 yards of net passing. The Stanford offense was able to convert on third down 8-of-12 times and was 0-for-0 on fourth down. What really hurt our defense was having to be out on the field for more than half of the game. The Stanford offense had possession of the ball for 35:59, giving the Notre Dame defense a break for only 24:01. The fatigue became quite apparent in that last drive of the game.

How did the team perform on an individual basis? Jaylon Smith came out to a quick start and ended up finishing with eight solo tackles and seven assists. Jaylon Smith has now achieved more than 100 tackles in consecutive seasons. The last Fighting Irish player to do that was Manti T’eo’s run of three straight years from 2010-12. Smith has also reached double digits in tackles in five of the last six games. Elijah Shumate had eight solo tackles and two assists, Max Redfield had six solo tackles and four assists, Romeo Okwara had five solo tackles and three assists, Joe Schmidt had two solo tackles and three assists, and Isaac Rochelle, Greer Martini and Jarrett Grace all had two solo tackles and one assist. Greer had the only sack of the night, late in the second quarter, which was his first of the season. Devin Butler started his first game of the year at cornerback. Butler is the 37th different player to start a game for the Irish this season and the 17th on defense.

9

NOTRE DAME:
SMITH, Jaylon

SOLO:
8

ASST:
7

TOTAL:
15

TFL/Yards
1.0/1

FF
.

FR/Yds
.

INT/Yds
.

BkUp
.

Blkd
.

Sack/Yd
.

QBH
.

22

SHUMATE, Elijah

8

2

10

1.0/1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

10

REDFIELD, Max

6

4

10

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

45

OKWARA, Romeo

5

3

8

1.0/1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

38

SCHMIDT, Joe

2

3

5

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

90

ROCHELL, Isaac

2

1

3

0.5/1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

48

MARTINI, Greer

2

1

3

1.5/8

.

.

.

.

.

1.0/7

.

59

GRACE, Jarrett

2

1

3

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

12

BUTLER, Devin

1

2

3

.

.

.

.

1

.

.

.

36

LUKE, Cole

2

.

2

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

91

DAY, Sheldon

2

.

2

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

41

FARLEY,Matthias

1

1

2

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

5

MORGAN, Nyles

1

.

1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

99

TILLERY, Jerry

1

.

1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

98

TRUMBETTI, A.

1

.

1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

85

NEWSOME, Tyler

.

1

1

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Of course this wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, but finishing week 12 with a 10-2 record is not too shabby. We were just two losses and four points shy of a perfect record. I’m incredibly proud of this team and am looking forward to seeing who we face in a bowl game, and then onward to see what Team 128 can accomplish next year. The seniors on this defense will be greatly missed next year, but as we’ve seen so many times this year, the next man in will step in, and step up, and find his place in the system. Thank you, Team 127! It’s been a wild ride!

Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.

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Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.

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Comments

I’m with you in that I’m proud of the team and not as down on this defense as most vocal fans. I think the game plan was always to take McCaffrey out of the game and they succeeded. But by doing that, they knew they risked a shootout. ND needed 40 to be safe and they easily could have had it if not for the red zone problems and that turnover before halftime. Stanford punted twice as many times as ND, with ND getting stops when they were needed, especially late in the game when Stanford had a chance to put it away. Specifically, stuffing McCaffrey on 3rd and 1 in the 4th and on 1st down on the next drive to set up some obvious passing downs for Hogan. I’ll be sad to see Sheldon Day go. He doesn’t get talked about enough. And as much as I’d love to see Jaylon Smith play another year, he’s a first round pick.

It is also harder to play defense now. It is an offensive game right now. To me the penalty on the final drive was a killer. Very tough loss. If there is any silver lining, I think even at 11-1 we don’t make it. I believe college football wants to force ND into a league. They will likely have to go 12-0 to make playoff.